After drinking from several Internet firehoses of information this week at TCEA 2014, I must force myself to debrief and make an action plan so that the wealth of connections, information and inspiration do not go to waste.

I must admit that I suffer from “Session Selection Anxiety,” or SSA. I stress out about fitting in all in--come on, you do it too! But with social media, we know we can get the resources from others. However, I do not have a good track record of choosing the best sessions. For the most part, this Top Ten is compiled from my PLN and not sessions I actually attended--the “beauty and the beast,” of attending conferences these days.

9.Credlyis amazing app that allows you to create, publish, curate and issue digital badges. Their website says, “Give Credit Where Credit is Due.” This app is a great way to get started with badges in your classroom! It is available as aweb app,an iOS app, and will integrate through an “Open Credit” API likeOpenBadges. I’m still figuring this out, but this will come in handy with the badge integration I have been planning! (Thanks to Shellie Carson for tweeting this one out!)

8.Extensity Chrome Extension: This Chrome extension is great for people like me who are addicted to extensions! My toolbar is a bit out of control. With Extensity I can enable/disable through the extension instead of going through all my settings. Just click to enable when I need it, and disable when I’m done. Extensions can slow performance down, so I hoping this will help keep my browser running fast. You can also access your Chrome Apps through this extension. (This app came from Amy Mayer’s “Chrome Apps and Extensions” session.)

7.Sound Gecko from "Chrome Extensions for Educators" by Jake Duncan: Sound Gecko is a great web app, chrome extension, and mobile app for iOS, Android and Windows. This app will allow you to convert a website to a sound file. How awesome is that?!! So I can convert an article and listen to it in the car. Even better, struggling readers can use this to convert articles and follow along with the reader. I’m sure there are countless applications.

6.YouTube Capture iOS App: This app allows you to shoot and edit beautiful videos for YouTube. You can stitch together clips, trim and rearrange clips, touch up videos with color correction and stabilization, add a soundtrack from your library, and upload to YouTube! (This app was shared by Monica Martinez.)

5.Simple Transfer iOS App: This app is a very simple way to transfer pictures and videos to/from you device to your computer. Photos and videos can take up an enormous amount of space on your device. This will allow you and your students to get those files off the iPad and share them/upload them where you want. You must be on the same wifi network. It’s compatible with Mac, Windows and Linux. (This app was from the “Get Off My iPad” session by Mandy Bryan and Paul Wagner.)

4.Kahoot: Kahoot is game-based classroom response system. What sets it apart from other response systems is the game-like features. As students answer questions, they are awarded points. The top five make the leaderboard, so it becomes competitive and fun! It is web-based so it is device agnostic. I can’t wait to try this with my teachers! I heard about this web app from several sessions and tweets so I have no original credit to bestow.3. TheCommerce ISD Digital Fluency Team! I promise I am not playing favorites, but I have to give a shout out to the group from Commerce. They have made me feel like an honorary CISD Tiger!(I even got a t-shirt!) As the facilitator of their Digital Fluency Academy, I have had the privilege to work with some amazing teachers and leaders. At TCEA we connected through twitter using the #wearedigitallyfluent hashtag. Special thanks to all of the teachers who attended TCEA, and Heather Kilgore, Al Shipp, and Cari Sturch! This school district has some amazing things going on, and the support of a great superintendent, Blake Cooper. Below is our #selfiewithstuart!

1. Jake Duncan’s “Quest for Game-Based Learning” Session: Jake’s session was hands-down my favorite. I could have written this entire post just with the resources he shared in this session. I’m new to the gamification of education scene, and I am trying desperately to catch up! This session was loaded with both resources and classroom applications. A quick takeaway was the Photoseed for Minecraft App, which replaces the faces in the photo with a Minecraft face. (Great for protecting the identity of students!) Check out the wealth of resources in the link to his presentation. It was so great to finally meet Jake in person! Look out Region 10, gamification and game-based learning coming to you soon!

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